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As many of you already know, we are now
reaping what we as a country have sown in the last 50 years and we are now
seeing the fruits of it.
A few days ago I had a talk with a couple of
young kids from our church. They described the despair and troubled minds
of their peers that they live among and go to school with. One little
five your old boy talks constantly of suicide. A young lady of 8 has
already tried suicide.
Police are in the schools with dogs to sniff out drugs.
We've told them its okay to kill the unborn, we've let television be the
babysitter. We've thrown out all mention of the name of God from our
schools. The schools are full of the homosexual agenda and all the
political correct junk is thrown at them instead of academics. The
churches can no longer reach them.
We've had youth pastors, recreational centers
in our churches, we've tried video games, lock ins, youth conventions,
Christian rock, and nothing is working. Its getting worse.
I'm wondering if we all should go back to the
drawing board as the saying goes in other words go back to our prayer
closets, open up our churches for prayer meetings and see if we can find
out God's way to dealing with our youth. Our ways are not working. The
youth we are seeing today is going to run the government and our churches
tomorrow. Its now not just the teens but the grade school children that
are troubled. We've heard of a gang of young kids that plotted to kill
their teacher recently in the news.
Its time to earnestly seek God and start to
really pray for our young people. I think only an outpouring of God's
power can possibly save them. It may be to the point that "this kind goes
not out but by prayer and fasting." To all who believe in prayer, we
have to get serious about this. We are losing a whole generation of
kids.
Could Christian rock music distract our
young people from the real message of the gospel we are trying to bring to them?
Many times we may attempt to use popular Christian rock bands to lure the young
people to meetings
for the purpose of getting them off the streets, preaching the gospel and
bringing growth to the youth group but I wonder if the purpose is defeated when
the music may be a distraction to the message. First of all, one cannot always
hear the message given through the music because the bands are so loud that the
lyrics go unnoticed. Secondly by the time the real message is preached, they are
so charged up by the music that the message may not be getting through.
Ye shall know them by their fruits. I see very little fruit among young people
of the church as a whole that would cause us to see them as born again
Christians. Teen pregnancies, sex before marriage is just as common among the
churched kids as the unchurched so how are we making a difference? Another
troubling factor is that suicide among young people in increasing at alarming
numbers as I mentioned before, and there have been some associated with the church. Back when they
first started bringing in video games, having lock ins, more parties, Christian
rock concerts, we were told that we needed more things to hold their interest
and get them "saved." Well, we had that stuff for years and it doesn't seem to
be working.
Perhaps we need to return to seeking and trusting in the power of the Holy
Spirit to change their lives instead of using the world to lure them into the
realm of safety. Yes, we would have fewer numbers but the ones we do have just
may be called into the ministry and go forth to preach the gospel as we are
instructed to do. If you use worldly methods to reach the youth, we will attract
many that come only for that and they will (I've seen it happen) draw away the
kids that grow up in the church. Seems to me that training the ones we already
have in the gospel and seeking to see them filled with the Holy Spirit after
they have come to Christ for salvation may be an old fashioned concept but it
just might work. Drug addicts who have been saved off the streets from addiction
are less likely to return to drugs if they go on to be filled with the Holy
Spirit after conversion.
The dependency on the Holy Spirit and crying out for His return to our churches
may be the only answer the youth of today have. There is no other power that can
deliver them from the lure and attraction of the world around them.
When we use loud rock music with blaring guitars and keyboards we just might be
giving them a high, a good feeling and a substitute for the real power of the
Holy Spirit that can change their lives.
I've sat in church before and listened to testimonies of kids who have returned
to the home church after visiting youth camps and youth conventions. There is
very little about Jesus mentioned, conversion to Christ or the infilling of the
Holy Spirit but all I've heard is "The music was great." The music, the music,
and then again "What did you like the most about youth camp?" The music.
I remember hearing about kids who used to receive the Holy Spirit when they went
to camps and youth meetings? Where are those testimonies today?
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